{"id":6512,"date":"2010-07-15T21:20:10","date_gmt":"2010-07-16T04:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/?p=6512"},"modified":"2010-07-15T21:21:51","modified_gmt":"2010-07-16T04:21:51","slug":"no-need-for-missionaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2010\/07\/15\/no-need-for-missionaries\/","title":{"rendered":"No need for missionaries."},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember that post I wrote a few days ago<\/a> about giving and getting?\u00c2\u00a0 About how the arrogance and superiority of some well-intended folks ends up alienating and insulting the group they are trying to help?
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EXAMPLE GIVEN<\/a><\/strong>.
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“30 Oregonians with a wealth of compassion, community service experience and technical expertise, will show the nation what the Gulf Coast disaster looks like<\/strong><\/em> from inside the Gulf.\u00c2\u00a0 We will shine a sustained light on what our neighbors need <\/strong>to survive and what the environment needs to recover.”<\/em><\/p>\n


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Yes, a group of folks from Portland and it’s surrounding universe are headed to New Orleans!\u00c2\u00a0 (No offense to beautiful Portland and our friends doing wonderful things out there, this just happens to be where this group is coming from.)\u00c2\u00a0 In any case, these folks are coming here to do 6 days of visits to Gulf Coast communities which:
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“…will culminate in the production of a graphic travelogue of what we saw, learned and felt.\u00c2\u00a0 Our experiences will be represented through the arts of drawing, writing, filming and making music.\u00c2\u00a0 The images and voices we capture will be engaging, powerful and influential.\u00c2\u00a0 And, most importantly our final documentation will contain a roadmap for individual action to minimize a second occurrence of this type of catastrophe.\u00c2\u00a0 The proceeds from the sale of our book, and any other money raised, will be contributed to Gulf Coast and national efforts to educate children about this catastrophe and how we can do the best possible job of cleaning up after ourselves, plus prevent this from ever happening again<\/em>.“<\/em><\/p>\n


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<\/a>
\nAlso, they are trying to raise $60,000.\u00c2\u00a0 You can donate on their website.\u00c2\u00a0 But no, the money isn’t for the Gulf… it’s to finance their trip.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So that they can come to the Gulf, visit as “caring neighbors arriving to help,” spend 6 days capturing images and voices, and then put them in their book.
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\nHmmm.
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\nI showed this to my graduate students earlier today in class.\u00c2\u00a0 In the words of one of the students: “I’m not even from the Gulf Coast and this insults ME.”
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\nCheck out their website<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 What do you think?
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\nHere are are some lessons that these undoubtedly very nice, wealthy-with-compassion-Oregonians should have considered:<\/p>\n